Medea
by clockwork starlight
Summary: My friends, I am resolved upon the deed; at once will I slay my children and then leave this land, without delaying long enough to hand them over to some more savage hand to butcher. Mikoto, as the mother, the wife, the anti-heroine.


Quotes from Euripides' Medea. Because if there was anyone who suffered at the hands of gods and men, it was Medea. Of course, she was a conniving witch who didn't hesitate to use whatever means, usually bloody and cruel if not at least magical, she had to to meet her ends. She killed her brother for Jason. She killed Jason's father for Jason. She then killed the sweet young thing Jason was leaving her for, and her rich old daddy too. And to top it off, although it's not a universal account, she killed the sons she bore him just to twist the knife, also because she feared her sins would cause them greater harm had they lived.

Other rationalizations:

If you look at the manga panels, ch 145-146, Mikoto is lying there, as if in repose. The only weapon apparent in the room is Itachi's sheathed katana. I seriously doubt Itachi was into staging his corpses, although he probably did dump his freshly dead dad on top of his mother. His parents were ill-equipped to incapacitate him, even if they had wanted to.

And unless the Uchiha were into marrying cousins or something, I don't know that Mikoto would have the same outlook as her husband.

_

* * *

Father and home of my free will I left and came with thee… for my love was stronger than my prudence._

She loved him, because he was handsome and strong, and above all, he was _shinobi_. She who dealt with death as another woman might flowers; she was destined to love no mere mortal man. A warrior, favored by the gods; Mikoto could consider no less.

She loved him, for he yoked fire-breathing beasts, slew armies and fought dragons. For him she broke her father's heart. She took his name and his home, and for a time she stopped peddling death.

_Gone is now the trust I put in oaths._

She learned, sometime after she gave him the first son, that while his affections were hers, his heart lay with another mistress. His family, their prestige and their purpose would be second to none, and any vows he had sworn to her and the village she loved were as ash in his mouth.

In revenge and because didn't wish her children to follow their father's destiny, she taught Itachi compassion, and nurtured his desire for peace. It was easy to turn Sasuke's admiration away from his father, toward his brother. Perhaps her eldest, proclaimed as a genius, knew her intentions. She didn't need to cultivate her sons' bonds; for it was clear Itachi loved his brother without question.

_On thy house too maybe I bring the curse._

And when her husband stayed out late, pandering to the whims of his 'family', she knew the man she married was no longer the husband she loved. He complained about Itachi's strange behavior, and she read nothing in his eyes. Fugaku's pride, that jealous mistress, would not accept his firstborn's apparent weakness. His gaze fell to Sasuke, and she tried desperately to push her family further apart.

_Upon these children my thoughts were turned._

Death was in the streets. The scent of blood whispered through the windows and doors, and she thought to herself, _that's my son, the genius_. She waited, patiently, in the house, the home she had taken with her marriage, the home she had made for her sons with love and defiance. Sasuke had put flowers in a vase by the window. She hadn't allowed herself to acknowledge them. But it was only her now. Soon, there wouldn't be any body who knew she had loved her sons to Death.

_What god or power divine hears thee, breaker of oaths and every law of hospitality?_

Fugaku reached her just before Itachi did. He had rushed to find his armor and weaponry, and found her, unequipped but fully prepared. Itachi materialized out of the shadows, and as she fell to the ground, barely feeling his sword in her stomach, she tried to tell him to be nice to his brother.

She heard Fugaku curse and distantly she heard the fighting, her vision blurred and swam. When it cleared for a brief moment, her eyes fell on that stupid wall hanging of the Uchiha symbol. There was something witty to be said about fanning flames that grew out of control, but for the life of her she couldn't think of it. _Leave it to Itachi_ _to do everything in one night._

She thought she felt something heavy fall on her.

She thought she heard Sasuke's voice.

She thought she tasted Itachi's pain.

_This one brief day forget thy children dear, and after that lament; for though thou wilt slay them _

_yet they were thy darlings still, and I am a lady of sorrows._


End file.
